TV And Movie Roles That Were Famously Recast
While it wasn’t a major role, the character of teacher-turned-stripper Delores Pasternak did recur on “Two and a Half Men” several times over the seasons. She was played by Missi Pyle for all of the episodes except one, in which she suddenly went from being a blonde to a redhead and was portrayed by Alicia Witt.
Dirk Benedict played the male fighter pilot Starbuck in the original space opera TV show “Battlestar Galactica,” which aired for a season in 1978. For the 2003-2009 reboot of the show, Katee Sackhoff played pilot Kara Thrace, who had the call sign “Starbuck.” She also got a rank promotion: Starbuck started the new series as a lieutenant, then became a captain in the second season.
Reggie from “Riverdale” was played by Ross Butler in the first season of “Riverdale.” Since Butler had a successful part on “13 Reasons Why” that conflicted with “Riverdale,” the role of Archie’s best frenemy was recast with Charles Melton. Melton started off as a recurring character in the second season but became a regular starting in the third season of the popular teen drama from The CW.
Michael Pitt was replaced by Joe Anderson as Mason Verger on the TV show “Hannibal.” Pitt decided he didn’t want to continue in the role after season 2. “Hannibal” ran for three seasons between 2013-2015.
Robert Wightman replaced the original “John-Boy” Richard Thomas in “The Waltons” for the eighth and ninth seasons of the show, 1979-1981. Many ardent fans, however, were disappointed with the change. Thomas would return in the role of John-Boy in later TV specials.
Jay and Gloria’s son Fulgencio “Joe” Pritchett was originally played in his birth episode by girl twins Rebecca and Sierra Mark. Next he was portrayed by Pierce Wallace. When the show needed to age up Joe a little faster, they picked Jeremy Maguire for the new version of Joe. Maguire played the role from season 7 through the series’ 11th and final season in 2020.
Merrin Dungey originally played Dr. Naomi Bennett on a season 3 episode of “Grey’s Anatomy”; she’s Addison Montgomery’s doctor friend who convinces her to move out west, thus spinning off the character into the TV show “Private Practice” through a back-door pilot. But when “Private Practice” launched in 2007, Bennett was played by Audra McDonald. The medical drama spinoff series ended in 2011.
The fabulous German-language romantic comedy “Mostly Martha” was such a breakout indie film that it was eventually remade in the U.S. But the title role of chef Martha was recast. Martina Gedeck played the original German Martha, while Catherine Zeta-Jones took on the chef role of Kate in the American version of the film, which was also renamed and became “No Reservations.”
Shailene Woodley was the original Kaitlin Cooper on Fox’s “The O.C.,” first appearing on the series at age 11. But her character was written off the show temporarily. And when Kaitlin was brought back as a more mature teen, Willa Holland took over the role.
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